About Bunnies
by nirky
Summary: Kate wakes up and Sawyer isn't in his cage. Can they overcame the events of the previous day? Set after episode 3x04, Every Man for Himself.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I obviously don't own Lost, although I'd really like to own Sawyer and Kate!8) And Sayid, and Jin, and Sun, and... P

**Author's note:** I want to thank my friend Ludovico (nicknamed Daemonfey :P) for being my beta-reader and correcting a few mistakes here and there. You rule!;) English is not my first language, so forgive me if you spot some calamity here and there. ) Enjoy and please review!

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**Chapter 1**

Kate woke up only to find out Sawyer wasn't in the cage in front of hers. She stood up quickly and tightened her hands around the bars, trying to check if he wasn't lying around on some dark corner she couldn't see from her stoned bed. Her eyes travelled through the area and saw nothing.

She began to walk back and forward nervously, caressing her still wounded wrists.

"Mornin', Kate!" a slightly southern drawl announced.

She turned her head in a fast movement and managed to force a little smile when she spotted the Other who used to wear the fake beard.

"It's Tom, right?" she asked, politely. "Can I call you Tom?"

"Well, ain't that a surprise!" he exclaimed, grinning. "Never expected you to be attentive enough to remember my name. Mr. Friendly is fine, you can call me that." He unlocked her cage and gestured for her to come out. "Time to work."

"Where is Sawyer?"

"Your friend James went for a walk. A very special walk." He grabbed Kate's arm gently and guided her to the quarry where she and Sawyer had worked two days before.

"Is he alright?"

"Of that, I'm not quite sure" Mr. Friendly answered with a hint of honesty. "You see, that James of yours isn't exactly an easy person. And some of us may wanna see him dead."

"He's not _mine_!" Kate spat, her tone venomous.

"Whatever you say, hon." He dropped his hand and stopped next to her. "Juliet! Kate's here. I'm going back now."

Juliet nodded and came closer.

"Hello, Kate" she whispered, smiling.

Kate glared at her. She hadn't forgotten the gun pointed at her chest when Sawyer attacked the Others.

"What did you do with Sawyer?" She remembered the day before, when the blonde had passed near their cages with Jack wearing a bag over his head. "Where did you take Jack?"

"Less talk, more work."

"Or what? You'll shock me?"

Juliet grinned, her eyes sparkling. "Yes. Same thing as the other day, break the rocks with the pickaxe. No talk, no breaks." She offered Kate the tools and pointed the place where she would be working today.

Kate sighed and walked slowly to the pile of heavy stones, noticing Pickett wasn't nowhere to be seen. She had a feeling it had something to do with the woman lied down on the stretch the previous day.

"_If you're not back by tonight, Sawyer, I'll run away without you. It's every man for himself." _She broke the first rock with anger and wiped both men away from her mind.

Sawyer was oddly quiet during the journey back from the cliff where he had seen the other island. _His_ island. It was a long walk, they would only arrive at the camp in the middle of the afternoon.

He was feeling stupid. How could he have believed they had implanted a pacemaker near his heart? How could he have let the Others know how much he cared about Kate? Now they had arguments against him. And Sawyer? Sawyer had nothing.

"Hey, Crusoe!" he called out. "We didn't come this way."

"You're right, James" Ben said, calmly. "Why? Do you miss your cage?"

"Hell yeah!" Sawyer replied, his voice full of sarcasm. "I sure am in the mood for fish biscuits right now!"

"We're moving you."

"You what?!" The con man stopped abruptly and grabbed Ben's collar.

Two guns were immediately pointed at Sawyer's head.

"We're moving you to a better place." the Other continued.

"I don't even wanna know what is your concept of a _better place_. Take me back!"

"Let go of me, James." Sawyer did as he was told, his eyes burning with hatred. "Don't you want a shower? A nice hot meal?"

"I don't want anything that comes from you, Palpatine. The food would probably be poisoned and I bet you have gas chambers instead of showers!"

"Kate would disagree."

"What d'ya mean?" His forehead was frowned in distrust.

"She took a shower and had a nice meal before we put her in that cage." Ben restarted his march. "Maybe that's why she tasted like strawberries."

"You..." Sawyer was getting ready to hit Ben as hard as he could, but the other two men prevented him. "Take me back there, you son of a bitch! Take me back!"

"I never thought you'd be so eager to go back to a bear cage, Sawyer..." Ben commented, his blue eyes scanning the con man intently.

Sawyer stopped struggling and got rid of the other men's grab.

"Listen to me, you little rat" he whispered, dangerously. "I don't know what the hell do you want from me, but you're putting me back on that cage or I'll be a specimen so difficult that you might as well kill me!"

"Then you might as well be killed."

Sawyer was stunned.

"You said it yourself you were no killers."

"I'm not very fond of killing, if that's what you're implying. But the bruises on your face show that maybe Pickett is." He shrugged his shoulders. "You never know."

"Look!" Sawyer insisted, now with an almost desperate hint of pleading in his rough voice. "Take me back to that cage just for today, for tonight. Then you can do whatever you want. I'll behave."

Ben grinned, a wicked smile dancing on the expression of his eyes.

"You've got yourself a deal... James."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **see chapter 1 for further cries about Lost not belonging to me!P

**Author's note: **thanks to all those who review! Now I understand what other authors said: writers feed on reviews!D Thanks to Ludovico for beta-reading.

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****Chapter 2**

Kate was exhausted when Mr. Friendly arrived to take her back.

"Had a nice day at work, Kate?"

She nodded.

"It ain't so easy when you're lonely, right?"

Kate thought it had been somehow way worse without Sawyer there to distract her, no matter how _unusual _his methods were. But she remained silent.

"Well, I hope you find the strength you need in your little apartment."

"I won't be able to work much longer if you keep feeding me fish biscuits."

"They have all the nutrients you need, believe it or not."

"_Yeah_. And I have to rely on Sawyer so I can eat them. How nutricional is _that_!"

"He'll gladly starve for you to eat, Kate" Tom said, in a confessional tone. "But that won't last forever."

She didn't reply , not sure of what to say.

Mr. Friendly opened the door of Sawyer's cage and sent her in there.

"Why am I in Sawyer's cage?" she demand, her voice failing her. "Where is he?!"

"Let's just say you're gonna have to start feeding yourself." the Other informed. "See you tomorrow, Kate."

Kate waited until everything was silent. And then she began to cry.

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Sawyer only arrived at the cages when the sky was already dark.

"Thought the deal was for the day _and_ night, boss" he said, lowering his voice.

"It is a long journey, James, and you get tired easily. And make too many stops just for chit-chat. The late's on you."

"There" the youngest guy who escorted Sawyer indicated. "Get in."

"This is Kate's. I want my cage. I want my fish biscuits!" he objected, humorously.

"I'm sure she can provide some of those" Ben replied, pointing at his former cage. "Good night."

Sawyer watched as the door of his cage was locked with two turns of the key and then he approached the bars, searching for Kate.

"Freckles? You there?"

Nothing. He was becoming agitated. He had sold his ass off not so much time ago just for the opportunity to talk to her one last time and now she wasn't there!

"Kate!" he yelled. "Come on, girl, don't you fail me now!"

"Hey." The sound of her voice sounded like Heaven to him. He quickly rubbered the awkward thought and looked up.

"You up there, sweetcheeks? Thought you said you weren't leaving without me."

"I wasn't leaving." She squeezed through the bars and went back down. "I just couldn't stand being stuck here, by myself. So I studied this cage and realized it had the same _problem_ as that one."

Sawyer looked down when he heard her words. What kind of sick games were the Others playing by separating them?

"You hungry?" she asked, approaching the bars closest to Sawyer's cage.

"Didn't they turn off that thing?"

"It's back on. Here." She imitated Sawyer's ritual to get the bear food and then threw the fish biscuit at him. He bit the biscuit and chewed it loudly.

"Now, Freckles, would you mind explaining me how you managed to be up there all comfy when a bunch of Others were passing downstairs?"

Kate smiled, her eyes sad.

"They don't care. As long as I'm here when they come for me."

"Is that supposed to mean you're gonna start moonwalking, short cake?"

She laughed and rolled her eyes.

"You okay?"

"Of course I'm okay. It's gonna take more than shocks and kicks to make me die here!"

"You seem a lot more light-hearted than yesterday. What happened?"

"I was apparently under the illusion that this subject was done between us, Freckles." He sat down on the floor, his shoulder leaned on one of the bars. "How was your day?"

"Sad. Breaking rocks the entire day."

"Missed the kissing parts, sweetcheeks?"

Kate rolled her eyes again and turned her back to him.

"You're disgusting, Sawyer." She crossed her arms and looked above. "What's happening, Sawyer? Why don't you talk to me?" She turned around again and grabbed the bars with her hands, a fierce expression on her delicate face. "Where's that watch of yours?"

"They conned me, alright?" he burst out, angrily. "Now cut it!"

"Did they?" Kate let out a faint laugh. "So now you know what it's like to be conned."

Sawyer mumbled a few words that Kate was unable to understand.

"What did you say?"

"I'm sorry, Kate" he repeated, louder, his voice raw with emotion. "I'm sorry I conned you."

"It's a little late for that."

Silence fell between them for a long time. Kate had been worried since the minute she woke up, but now that he was there with her, she felt herself being overwhelmed by a sensation of rage and despite she just couldn't get over with. She was mad at him for not trusting her.

"I'm leaving."

His voice came as a thunder blowing up inside her mind and it took her a few seconds to understand what he had said.

"You what?" she asked, trying not to shiver.

"I'm leaving. They want to move me outta here." He turned his head so he could face her.

"You're leaving _me_? You can't just leave me!" Sawyer tried hard not to smile. For a moment the scene looked like a break-up situation. But then he remembered how serious this was and his grin was replaced by a darkened expression.

"I don't want to, Freckles, I really don't..." he admitted, defeated.

"Why?" she demanded, wildly. "Why are they taking you away from here?"

"I don't know. Maybe they're bringing Jack here" Sawyer suggested, his tone very low and very soft. "You'll be fine if they bring Jack, won't you?"

"I'm not waiting for Jack!" Kate spat, angrily. She let go of the bars and started climbing all the way up to the outside of the cage. "If you're leaving, then I'm not gonna stay here."

"Kate, don't!" Sawyer stood up quickly. "You can't run away!"

"Why not?" She was already climbing her way down.

"This is not our island."

"Did they brainwash you, Sawyer?" she questioned, glaring at him. "This is their island now?"

"You don't understand!" he exclaimed, feeling helpless watching her leave without even saying goodbye. "Kate! Wait! There are two islands!"

She was already gone.

"Son of a bitch!" Sawyer allowed himself to fall on the floor, his back supported by the strong bars, and hid his head between his knees. He always ended up screwing everything when it came to Kate. But now he just couldn't comprehend why she had been so tempestive. And he wasn't quite sure why the alarm hadn't sounded yet.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note:** keep those reviews coming, they're greatly appreciated:)

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**Chapter 3**

Kate was astonished when she heard Sawyer's yell.

"_Two islands?!"_

She hesitated, her pace slowed down. Was he telling her the truth? Or was he conning her again, because of some Others' threat?

"_Sawyer's a liar and a bastard. I won't make the mistake of trusting him again."_

Kate looked at her left and at her right. Woods or the Others' buildings? They wouldn't expect her to be inside the wolf's den, at least for the first hours of her escape. But then again, it was dark and everything was silent, most people had to be asleep. She would have a few hours in advance if she fled across the forest. But what if Sawyer was right? That was way too many ifs for her liking, so she just started to run as fast and silently as she could.

She wasn't quite in herself. She was feeling guilty and coward and some hidden place of her conscience kept telling her she shouldn't escape. She couldn't leave Sawyer behind. She couldn't abandon Jack.

"Pssst!" a voice whispered.

Kate stopped abruptly. What was she doing escaping from a group of people who murdered Scott? Or was it Steve? What was she doing escaping from a group of people that had kidnapped Walt, that had made Michael kill Ana Lucia and Libby? She must've been out of her mind.

She looked around, recklessly.

"Who is it?"

"Over here, Kate. Come, come!"

She followed the voice into the trees and found herself facing the girl who supposedly was the previous owner of her recently disposed dress.

"You?"

"Shhht!" the girl said, nervously. "They know you've escaped and they're coming for you, but I got to you first."

"What do you want?"

"You have to go back, Kate."

"I don't have to do anything" she said, defiantly. "I'm tired of your games."

"It's all lies, Kate. Don't believe in anything they say."

"And I get to believe you?" Kate asked, her brows rising with sarcasm.

"_Yes_. Look, do you have any idea what they'll do to him if you don't return?" Alex insisted, almost desperately.

"Him? Sawyer?" Kate managed a faint laugh. "I don't care."

"Yes, you do."

Kate shrugged her shoulders and walked away.

"They will _kill him_, Kate. You're the reason why he's here. At least, you're the most important motive."

She faced the girl, sadly.

"Too bad. I can't go back there. I don't want to be locked and alone."

"It's all about you being alone?" Alex questioned. "Well, you won't be! Trust me."

"I don't trust anyone. Let me go."

"What happened to live together, die alone?"

"Well, he's gonna die alone, isn't he?"

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Sawyer had fallen into a light troubled sleep. He was still sit, his back against the uncomfortable bars. He was having dreams about bunnies escaping from the wicked hands of Ben. So when he felt a hand tapping his shoulder, he stood up quickly and pulled away from the bars as much as he could.

"What do you want?!"

"Calm down, Sawyer. It's just me."

"Damnit, Freckles!" he sighed, visibly relieved. "Don't you ever do that again!"

"Sorry. Bad dreams?"

"Tell me about it." He walked two steps forward. "Did you get caught?"

"Kind of."

"Guilty conscience?"

"That too." Kate smiled. "But I guess you weren't all that worried."

"Damn right I was!"

"So I suppose you can sleep through everything, then."

"What can I say? I was tired." He grinned. "Glad you're back, Freckles."

She fought the urge to respond "me too", instead she just whispered "Yeah".

"Promise you won't get hysterical 'til I finish my story?"

"I wasn't being hysterical!" Kate replied, offended.

"Of course not. You just got all pushy when I said I was gonna leave you. Didn't even let me explain!"

"Well, you're not exactly _smart_ when it comes to the exposure of ideas!"

Sawyer glared at her.

"What do you want to know?"

"Why didn't you fight back?" Kate felt that was the wrong way to start, there were so many more important things to talk about, but she just _needed_ to know what they had done to him.

"I told you they conned me" he said, wryly.

"Into what?"

"They made me believe I had this thing in my chest that would make it explode if my heart started beating too fast."

"And you believed it?" Kate couldn't contain her laughter. "Come on! You wouldn't recover so fast of a surgery like that!"

"I was unconscious, they shot me with whatever that was and I woke up with a scar below my heart. Forgive me if I thought I was gonna die, Bovary."

"So why didn't you just tell me that? You got me scared."

"They'd do the same thing to you..." he whispered, faintly. "They can hurt me as much as they please, but God be damned if I'll ever let them do anything to you..."

Kate looked troubled, her hazel eyes darkened and she glanced away. She didn't deserve his concern, his will to sacrifice himself. Not after she had been so eager to leave him, not after she was so mad at him.

"What's the deal with the two islands?" she asked, carefully avoiding to think about the meaning of Sawyer's words.

"There are two. That's all."

"Sawyer..." she insisted.

"This island is a smaller one, what can I say? I guess it's Papa Ben's Island of Horror." He mumbled, aghast. " He sure as hell kept us from running outta here."

"Yeah." Kate agreed, sadly. "Yeah."

They were silent for a while. She on the outside of his cage, staring at the sky like it was her only way out. Sawyer was looking at her, a mellancholic wave crossing his eyes.

"Will you come back, Sawyer?"

"_If they don't kill me..."_

"Yes, Kate. You won't even notice I was gone."

She highly doubted that, but she smiled anyway, and climbed back into her cage.


End file.
